Lessons From the Garden: Plans for King Tribute Bridge Boundaries Between Disciplines

Well before any of its plantings have taken root, the Coretta Scott King Gardens of Engagement already have produced a harvest of interdisciplinary cooperation and design opportunities.

The gardens, which will surround the bust of Martin Luther King Jr. east of K-State’s Ahearn Field House, also represent a bridge between students at the College of Architecture, Planning and Design (CAPD) and the profession they seek to enter.

HOK St. Louis has committed staff members to campus sessions and video conferences on the gardens starting in the spring semester. That’s when the usual weekly meetings of K-State’s National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) will give way to an Environmental Design Studies course led by La Barbara Wigfall, an associate professor of landscape architecture/regional and community planning.

Myra Gordon, associate provost for diversity and dual career development, raised the notion of a modest garden soon after the January 2007 dedication of the bust, sculpted by Salina artist Dick Bergen. Wigfall, in her long-time role as adviser to K-State’s NOMAS chapter, sought students’ input, and several interdisciplinary charettes resulted.

“La Barbara engaged the students and the students embraced the idea,” Gordon said. “I was blown away to see what my ‘little bench and a shrub’ had grown into.”

“We gave up our Saturday mornings and our football to go back to studio,” said David Hildebrand, a 2008 architecture graduate from Kansas City, Kan., who now works for Krehbiel Architects in Wichita.

The African tradition of an elder teaching under a tree guided the NOMAS students’ eventual design. Three circles interlock with the bust as their common center. The circles exemplify components of King’s approach to non-violent change: education, reflection and action.

An existing elm tree already illustrates the site’s central motif: Wigfall has encountered several groups studying under its branches.

“One was a student leadership meeting, and they had no idea about the proposal for the site,” Wigfall said. “But it was a sign to me that it made sense.”

The gardens, like the bust, commemorate King’s 1968 visit to K-State, where he delivered his last speech on a college campus before his assassination.

HOK’s involvement grew from the October 2007 annual conference of the National Organization of Minority Architects, the parent group of NOMAS. Wigfall had just completed a session on community involvement, and Kaven Swan, HOK’s vice president of marketing, was inspired to commit the firm to working with students.

“We immediately solicited their help,” Wigfall said. She and Gordon met with the firm’s diversity team in January 2008. “They were electrified about doing this project, because they realized the significance of Dr. King giving his last speech at K-State.”

Naturally, no project proceeds without money. Once a final cost is estimated, sponsors can be sought for “this signature opportunity to cement King’s legacy on campus,” said Bruce Broce, director of development for CAPD. “I think we’re going to do something innovative.”

Gordon and other administrators would have to approve any plan, Broce said, but he hopes that in addition to construction and maintenance costs, the garden project could provide scholarships for students.

“We’ve talked about using this as a historic opportunity to advance our endeavors toward enriching diversity at K-State,” Broce said.

Dennis Law, CAPD dean, also calls the proposal “a tribute to diversity within the academic structure.”

“The Coretta King Gardens not only recognize a legendary figure in civil rights,” Law said, “but they also have provided an opportunity for students from a variety of disciplines to collaborate with a notable design firm to solidify those plans.”

Lecretia Morrison, a fifth-year architecture student from Kansas City, Mo., has found the symbolism of working on a King-themed project powerful. As current president of NOMAS, she also has discovered the power of interdisciplinary give-and-take.

“NOMAS is unusual in comparison with other professional student groups on campus, because they usually have only one specialty,” she said. “Since the other students’ education has been different from mine, working with them has been very helpful.”

“And the charettes provided a way to express design in a way you can’t always do in the structure of a class, under the direction of a professor.”

HOK’s role is to guide the students’ existing conceptual design to reality. Participants will draw up construction documents, let the project for bid and create the eventual post-construction punch list.

During a November presentation by NOMAS students and HOK, Lorn Clement, an associate professor of landscape architecture/regional and community planning, spoke of the gardens as a model for a future class that would include just such project management aspects.

Viewed in that way, the undertaking could be a perfect expression of King’s legacy: hands on, from the ground up, an ideal not yet achieved but within reach.

“These students will know that they’ve left campus not just with a degree,” Wigfall said. “They’ll have something here that they’re proud of.”

For more information, contact:
La Barbara Wigfall, 785.532.2446
CAPD@ksu.edu, 785.532.1090